Yesterday when I joked about Batiuk doing this as a serious storyline, I was kidding. I really genuinely thought that the glare from Pete was going to be the beginning and end of it. And as bland and easy as that would have been, it would have been better than this.

This is, without a doubt, the most deeply uncomfortable strip I’ve seen Batty put out in YEARS. I’m not usually one that trumpets the ‘Batty is a blatant misogynist’ line, but I am reassessing my opinions of it.

No wonder Burchett is half-assing this… I would half-ass this as a form of silent yet visual protest.

I am genuinely curious if the fallout of this will be Mindy being cowed then educated by the power of SRS BIDNESS comic books, or Pete being put back in his place with cheap heavy-handed feminist patronizing. I could see it go either way.

I am very eagerly awaiting all of you Stuckfunkians tearing this strip to pieces in the comments.

Tomorrow’s strip:
Mindy tries to say something. Pete slaps her and orders her to go bake him some cookies and bring him chocolate milk.
Saturday’s strip:
Pete and Darrin lounge at their desks watching a smiling Mindy obey her orders. Pete bemoans the good old days when the women of Batom Comics wore skimpy outfits while bringing their men cookies and chocolate milk.
Sunday’s strip:
A comic homage cover. I won’t go into any more detail than “Pete and Mindy recreating the old Wonder Woman comics where she was always getting tied up”.

TomBa has been working without supervision for far too long. Yesterday’s strip established that Pete’s employer loves the idea of Charger Chimp. Pete’s subsequent tantrum explains why he’s no longer employed at Marvel or DC.

Yes, comic books are very, very serious business and certainly not the domain of silly girls who happen to be good at coloring. And now, because his girlfriend couldn’t resist her feminine cute n’ cuddly instincts, Pete’s in a whole peck of trouble. What year is this, anyway? So I guess something can indeed be tone-deaf and ham-fisted at the same time. He’d better be careful, as that blatant display of mansplaining in panel three might alienate one of his female readers thereby cutting his female readership in half.

I dunno, doesn’t seem serious to me. I mean, Pete claims he is doing “work”.

I also fail to see how “Charger Chimp” is any less serious than an ape who happens to be atomic/an old radio Western hero/an outer space traveler, but we have established that Pete doesn’t know the definition of “work” so it is possible he’s mixed up on what “serious” means as well. Even so, this is a Les-level move.

I can think of something worse than Batiuk’s lunkheaded and defensive misogyny: his taking his vision of what comics should be too fucking seriously. We see it when he bays at the moon because the people who made the campy sixties Batman clearly did so to insult and demoralize some puny anonym from Ahia. We see it when he starts howling in rage when DC changes the explanation for why Flash runs at ludicrous speed. We see it when he doesn’t realize that his heroes were engaged in the serious business of not starving to death because they saw the long underwear characters as a series of pot-boilers that paid the bills until they managed to write something serious that would mean something.

I deconstruct! Mindy is clearly the superior person here. She had an idea that works with the basic concept. Pete is showing that he’s a classic male schlub, whining at the thought that a woman had an idea, and now he’ll have to work! Batiuk is carefully subverting his own strip and world-view, and, um, yes, now that you mention it I have been skipping my meds.

On Writing About Relationships – The Batiuk Method
1. Any man, no matter how unlikable, will be in one or more relationships with women who reflexively cater to him.
2. Women who are mothers are terrible to the extent that they do anything beyond support obsessive comic book hoarding.
3. Women who are single need to get themselves a man. Preferably without regard to the man having any obviously appealing traits. Women who seek out attractive men and/or have interests not having to do with the man in their lives are, obviously, terrible.
4. Continuously ruminating upon feelings of rejection and maternal loathing into your dotage is totally healthy and a great source of inspiration for stories.

The only female FW character whose life doesn’t completely center around a man or men is Summer and she hasn’t been heard from in years. Even Cindy…the most “accomplished” woman in the strip…fell on hard times (based on her looks, no less) and had to be paired up with Mason before experiencing a career renaissance (a renaissance centered around a male character, Cliff). Even Lisa, Batiuk’s ultimate female character, eventually became nothing more than a conduit for Les’ feelings.

Then there’s Marianne Winters, who was downgraded from ruthless man-eating A-grade star (and threat to Cindy Summers) to naif young starlet who still lived with mommy and was all dreamy-eyed over being cast in a real big movie. Didn’t you just want to cuddle her, especially when mean internet trolls almost drove her to suicide?

Really? Serious? In what universe does Charger Chimp (again a hat tip to Moon Mile Meek) undermine the serious dark and gritty tone of ‘Atomic Ape’ a blue robot ape that cleans up sleazy solar systems? It’s comic book and it’s a comic book from a company that is aimed at people who have nostalgia for the juvenile silver age fluff of DC from the late 50’s to the mid 60s’ or so. It’s laughable.
And considering how Pete’s contributions have been a walking mound of wet paper and a (god help us) a scuba cop… I really don’t think that he’s got a leg to stand on here.
Also the creative process works better when sharing ideas is encouraged. Thanks to Pete’s whiny outburst here Mindy is not going to be that willing to say anything at least while Pete’s around.
And one more thing Pete THE BOSS LIKES THE IDEA. It’s his dime by the by. You don’t like the idea perhaps you should talk to him and explain why it’s not a good fit for the whole concept of – Dear lord – Atomic Ape – and not try to shame your would be girlfriend.
Alas I can see this ending much as the time Funky and Crazy laughed at Les when he said two women were after him. That ended with Funky almost crawling back to Let who was siting on that stupid porch swing of his like it was a throne.

Oh yeah, Susan Smith…another believable and realistic female character, the young woman whose entire life was defined by her undying love for Les Moore and who was forever banished in shame due to her inability to control her emotions in his presence.